1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a base plate support for a container, particularly to an energy absorbing base plate support connecting a base plate and a side wall of an anti-blast cargo container.
2. Description of Related Art
Due to an increasing number of terror attacks, security of commercial flights has received more and more attention. In recent years, bombs in flight baggage and cargo have become a security worry. Therefore, blast resistant containers are the topic of product research in every country.
Blast damage is largely different from damage due to static forces or shifting of load. During a blast, energy is released almost instantly. A rigid construction relying on high weight and material strength will not be able to resist a blast, rather a design for absorbing and converting of shock energy is required.
As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional base plate support for a flight cargo container mainly comprises: a main body 1, having a roughly trapezoidal cross-section; a horizontal fastening plate 2A, horizontally extending away from the main body 1 and connected with the base plate 17 of the container; and a vertical fastening plate 2B, vertically extending away from the main body 1 and connected with a lateral wall plate 3 of the container. The vertical fastening plate 2B further comprises a vertical lower section 4, a horizontal middle section 5 and a vertical upper section 6, thus being bent twice at right angles.
The lateral wall plate 3 of the container is fastened to the upper section 6 of the vertical fastening plate 2B. If a blast hits the container, the lateral wall plate 3 exerts an outward and upward directed force on the vertical fastening plate 2B. Then the middle section 5 and the lower and upper sections 4, 6 undergo torque in different directions. Thus a strong blast will deform the vertical fastening plate 2B and damage the container.
Even if due to flexibility of the base plate support the effect of a blast is spread out in time, torque on the vertical fastening plate 2B is not reduced.
Referring to FIG. 6, in another design a conventional base plate support for a flight cargo container mainly comprises: a main body 7, having a roughly trapezoidal cross-section; a horizontal fastening plate 8A, horizontally extending away from the main body 1 and connected with the base plate 17 of the container; and a vertical fastening plate 8B, vertically extending away from the main body 1 and connected with the lateral wall plate 3 of the container. The vertical fastening plate 8B is an unbent plate without a horizontal section, thus having less flexibility. Therefore, upon a blast, rigid behavior is shown, without any absorbing effect.
As above examples show, a conventional base plate support for a flight cargo container offers no protection against a blast. Reinforcing containers by adding material, on the other hand, increases weight, which is a great disadvantage.
It is the main object of the present invention to provide a base plate support for a container which is able to absorb a bomb blast.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a base plate support for a container which, having a reinforced structure, is effective against a bomb blast.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings.